In Congo, Fresh Anxieties
Operation With Rwandan Troops Targeting Hutu Militias Could Become Civilian Bloodbath, Rights Groups Warn

By Stephanie McCrummen
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, February 1, 2009

NYAMILIMA, Congo -- By late afternoon, an unusual delegation of Congolese and Rwandan army officials, ex-rebel lieutenants, spear-carrying militiamen and shiny-shoed politicians had arrived at this dirt-road village in a dusty convoy -- a kind of roadshow aimed at explaining perhaps the most improbable twist yet in the deadliest conflict since World War II.

Stepping onto a stage, a politician told a gathering crowd of an extraordinary deal between Congo and Rwanda that has suddenly made friends of enemies and enemies of friends, bringing 7,000 Rwandan troops to Congo for a potentially ruthless joint military operation.

"Aren't you happy?" the politician shouted at the villagers, who mostly stared, seeming to calculate what fresh calamity or possible hope the operation might imply. "Can't you clap? The president of the republic has decided to end the war!"

On paper, the Congolese-Rwandan operation aims to disarm an estimated 6,500 Rwandan Hutu militiamen who fled into eastern Congo after the 1994 Rwandan genocide and have wreaked havoc ever since.

The operation is part of the wide-ranging military, political and economic deal between Congo and Rwanda, which represents a significant rapprochement between the two countries and offers the prospect of finally sorting out a conflict that by some estimates has killed 5 million people over the past decade.

As part of the deal, Rwanda agreed to pull the plug on its proxy, rebel leader Laurent Nkunda, whose advance across eastern Congo last year displaced at least 250,000 people and posed a serious political threat to President Joseph Kabila.

Congo, in turn, agreed to allow Rwandan troops in to fight the Hutu militias, whose leaders allegedly participated in the genocide and are now entrenched in lucrative mining businesses in the east. Rwanda also has enormous economic interests in eastern Congo.

In villages across these green hills, however, there are signs that the joint operation will be messy and brutal.

Human rights groups have warned that the operation could easily degenerate into a bloodbath for civilians around villages such as Nyamilima. Most people here are from the same ethnic group as the Hutu militiamen known as the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda, or FDLR, and many have married and had children with them. An estimated 15,000 women and children live with the fighters in villages or camps in the bush. And one of the operation's top Congolese commanders, known as the Terminator, is wanted on war-crimes charges.

Then there is the almost zany task of cobbling together the joint operation itself. That entails mixing Rwandan soldiers with the Congolese soldiers who once fought them, with the rebels who were fighting the Congolese, with the ragtag militias that were fighting the rebels -- and the entire operation is targeting a group the Congolese army has collaborated with for years.

All has not gone smoothly so far.

In the past week, a key Nkunda commander failed to show up for a ceremony at one camp to integrate hundreds of his men into the Congolese army. At another camp, a few dozen tents set up to receive the rebels remained empty.

"We've been waiting," said one Congolese soldier there.

Several former Nkunda soldiers who have been integrated -- now wearing stiff, new Congolese army uniforms -- said they remain under their old rebel command.

And on the Congolese army side, notoriously undisciplined troops and militias are not exactly happy about fighting their old friends.

"The game has changed. Now we are supposed to attack the FDLR, which has been helping us," said an exasperated Jean Linalyabuta, a Congolese company commander who said he had worked with the Hutu militias since 1996. "And I tell you the truth: We have already identified areas where FDLR are, but they are within the population. If we get orders, we'd be obliged to attack everyone."

He was patrolling a village the other day as several hundred well-kitted Rwandan troops marched north hauling rocket-propelled grenade launchers, ammunition, rifles, boots and bedrolls toward a front line. Though the operation is nominally under Congolese command, officials familiar with it say the Rwandans -- considered one of the best armies in Africa -- are firmly in charge.

"We feel unhappy seeing them come to do the job that we can do," said one Congolese soldier, who did not give his name. "It will be impossible to live and work with them."

The Rwandan army has invaded eastern Congo twice before to hunt the Hutu militias. Both times, the Congolese army and various nationalist militias wound up collaborating with the Hutu groups against the Rwandans. Both times, the invasions were disastrous for locals, with Rwandans accused of large-scale civilian massacres.

But this time, the Rwandans were invited in. And after a decade of war, some Congolese army commanders and officials seem impatient with worries about civilian casualties, saying it's more important to finally rid Congo of the FDLR menace.

"For us, what is important is the result," said provincial Gov. Julien Paluku Kahongya, dismissing concerns about a former Nkunda deputy, Bosco Ntaganda, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for allegedly conscripting child soldiers on a large scale and is accused of being behind civilian massacres.

Alan Doss, the top U.N. ambassador to Congo, stressed the need for civilian protection during the operation but noted that diplomats pushed for the Hutu militias to be disarmed.

The United Nations is helping with logistics and military planning; a small U.S. military team also arrived in the past week, though its role is not yet clear.

"There will be collateral damage, to use that horrible phrase," Doss said. "But again, the international community has pressed for this for a long time now."

Around here, the feelings are more nuanced among the villagers, who have lived through years of bewildering conflict.

"We would prefer that they just negotiate with the FDLR peacefully," said Gideon Kambale, a farmer. "When they fight, it is us who will suffer."

People here are aware of what happened a bit farther north, where another joint military operation is targeting a notorious Ugandan rebel group. In reaction, the Lord's Resistance Army killed more than 600 villagers with machetes over the Christmas holiday, raising a chorus of international criticism against the operation. Many here fear that the FDLR will employ a similar strategy.

"The FDLR are telling people that when they are attacked, you will be the victims," said Modeste Kabori, a traditional chief in the area. "And when the population cries out, the international community will come in and stop the operation."

About 25 militia leaders are wanted in Rwanda for allegedly taking part in the genocide, when Hutu extremists killed an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. But a large percentage of the fighters were preteens at that time and would qualify for amnesty.

U.N. teams are stepping up efforts to coax fighters into laying down their weapons. The teams have set up "welcome centers" in the bush and dropped leaflets urging fighters to disarm and return to Rwanda. In January, nearly 200 fighters and their families surrendered, and a U.N. official said Saturday that talks are underway with top leaders on Rwanda's wanted list who want to leave Congo.

"We are in business," said Tahirou Diao, a spokesman for the U.N. team working on demobilization. "The big worry is the humanitarian consequences."

La Forge Fils Bazeye, a spokesman for the Hutu militia, said that his group would fight "until the end," adding that by launching the operation, "the Congolese government has already sacrificed the population."

While there has been sporadic fighting between the two sides, many Hutu militiamen have fled deeper into Congo. Others have simply blended into villages such as Nyamilima, where the operation should begin any day.

"If this operation succeeds, we have faith we will have peace in eastern Congo" said a teacher here, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was afraid the militias might target him. "But we really have fear."